Thursday, June 18, 2015

Come play at the Rip City 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament July 25th & 26th! Divisions for all ages, abilities and skill levels. Activities include the tournament, Slam Dunk contest, 3-Point Shootout and a Youth Skills Challenge.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

TweetDiana Taurasi made news this week by announcing she wouldn't be suiting up for the WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury for the 2015 season.

Instead, she is going to rest. But here's the catcher, she's still going to get paid -- by her Russian team, UMMC-Ekaterinburg

During the WNBA's off-season (which happens to be twice as long as the four-month summer season), Taurasi, like many women's players go overseas to earn a living.

To protect their investment (UMMC is reportedly paying Taurasi $1.5 million this season) and secure Taurasi for the following season, the Russian club offered to pay her to sit out the 2015 WNBA season.

Get paid to rest -- not a bad gig.

Two Leagues, Year-Round Seasons
To be honest, I'm surprised Taurasi/UMMC is the first instance of this happening. The best players in the world play year round, between the WNBA and Europe, Asia or Australia.

One full season overseas (September-May) is hard enough on your body. Remove the summer months to rest, recover and rejuvenate? I don't know how they do it for an entire year.

Taurasi has played 10 year-round seasons. That's a lot of wear and tear to put on an aging body, in a cutthroat, short-lived profession.

I look at what Taurasi has done for 10 consecutive years and say she's made a sacrifice. To play year-round, at the highest level, puts an amazing toll on your body. My body wouldn't have held up for one year-round season, let alone 10.

This is where I get to why.

Why Play?

Taurasi was the league's MVP in 2009, & two-time Finals MVP.

Why has she sacrificed? Why do players like Diana Tauarsi, Tamika Catchings, Maya Moore, et al play in the WNBA, when financially it might not make sense? It's not for the money or the glamour of the WNBA. They sacrifice to help the league maintain and (hopefully) grow.

First, to have the opportunity to play professionally at 'home' has to be an incredible feeling. It's something I was never able to do.

Secondly, and what I think is most-important, is that they don't want the WNBA to fail.

Players feel an obligation to the opportunity. The WNBA hasn't always been around, and players want it to succeed. In order for it to succeed, the best players need to be on the court.

We are just now at the tail end of players' careers who remember a time when there was no WNBA. When there was no viable opportunity to play professionally in the US.

As we get further away from that generation, there might become a time when the league is taken for granted. When players assume the league has always been here, and will always be here.

It wouldn't shock me to see more players sit out WNBA seasons to allow their bodies and minds recover from the longer, more financially rewarding overseas seasons. Especially as the younger generation asserts itself.

Moore is one of the top young talents in the league.

Point blank, it looks bad for the league to have one of its top five players be paid more NOT to play.

And I don't blame Taurasi. A basketball career is finite, and she's trying to make the most of it financially.

But it could become a turning point.

Danger Zone?
Here's what needs to happen -- somehow, someway -- the WNBA needs to find a way for this not to become a trend. Otherwise, they'll be in danger of becoming a second-tier league, or worse, obsolete.

The players who have sacrificed to help the league, that's still in its infancy, grow, need to see the support from the WNBA in return.

The WNBA has league maximum and league minimum salaries -- for both veterans and rookies.

In 2013, the minimum salary for rookies was $35,190. The league's top four drafted players earned at maximum $48,470. Every other rookie, earned between 35k and 48k.

Maya Moore plays WNBA off-seasons in China.

The minimum salary for a player with three-plus years of experience was $55,000 while the maximum salary for a six-plus year player was $107,000.

Based on her 10 years of experience, Taurasi is at the 107k maximum. Again, her contract with UMMC is $1.5 million. (Keep in mind, most overseas salaries reported are post-tax earnings, while WNBA are pre-tax.)

You do the math; what would you do?

LeBron vs. Steve Blake Analogy
While the WNBA pay scale is a nice idea, it doesn't make sense.

A 10-year veteran role player, should not earn the same salary as Diana Taurasi --a three-time WNBA Champion, two-time WNBA Finals MVP, three-time Gold Medalist, etc). Why? Because she doesn't bring the same value to the franchise, nor to the league.

I'll give you an NBA comparison to make it more obvious: Should LeBron James and Steve Blake earn the same salary? (I bet even Steve Blake would say 'of course not!')

Currently, they're both in their 12th NBA season. So under the WNBA's pay scale, they would earn the same salary. Instead, this season LeBron will earn $20.6 million from the Cavs, while Blake will earn $2.1 million from the Trail Blazers. Seems comparable for what they bring to their teams and to the NBA.

I'm not here to compare and argue NBA vs. WNBA salaries. They're different animals, and cannot be compared. But if the WNBA is to remain relevant in the women's basketball world, the powers that be must come up with a solution to compensate, and keep its best/most-visible players on their court.

The only uniform you'll see Taurasi in during 2015.

Franchise Tag Solution?
Franchise tags are used in the NFL, but in a different manner than what I would be suggesting. In this instance, franchise tag means superstar.

Each of the 12 WNBA teams should be allowed two (?) franchise tags. Teams can then pay those players whatever they deem fair, and either the league raises the salary cap, or franchise tags do not apply towards the salary cap. (The current salary cap for WNBA teams is $913,000.)

The number of players who garner the Taurasi-types of salaries overseas are very few. Likewise, the number of players who the WNBA should tag as superstars should be just as few. In fact, allowing 24 franchise tags for the entire league might be too many. But that's not for me to decide.

This is a solution I came up with in 20-minutes, give-or-take a few. There are many other options, and there are people much smarter than I who should be working to find a solution.

Because as it stands right now, the WNBA needs its superstars exponentially more than they need the WNBA. I certainly don't want to witness the league's demise, but whatever their solution, the WNBA better be working on it ASAP.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Tweet
A year ago, this past September 20th, Nike founder Phil Knight, and his wife Penny, launched one of the most-impressive and inspiring cancer research challenges to date:

If OHSU can raise $500 million by February, 2016 the Knight family will match that $500 million -- all benefiting cancer research.

OHSU & The Knight Cancer Institute
For those of you outside the Portland area, Oregon Health Science University (OHSU) is a nationally prominent research university, and Oregon's only public academic health center.

Over the years, OHSU has grown into a world class teaching hospital and research center.

The Knights and OHSU have history together in the cancer research community. In 2008, a $100 million donation from the Knights turned the then-named OHSU Cancer Institute into the Knight Cancer Institute. The NCI-designated institute is an international leader in cancer research and personalized cancer treatment.

OHSU sits above Portland's West Hills.

Together, their mission is to 'end cancer as we know it.'

The Knight Cancer Institute focuses on attacking cancer on a molecular level, and looks for ways to detect cancers earlier, before they become deadly, giving more patients the chance to survive more cancers.

If OHSU is able to match the Knights' $500 million challenge, the vision for those funds will go towards:

Putting unprecedented research resources behind this initiative so that it can make a significant impact in a decade. We can’t ask those living with cancer to be patient.

Assembling a collaborative, multidisciplinary team of cancer researchers, combining new recruits with top talent at OHSU to focus on improving early cancer detection, and fund their programs sufficiently to ensure they can devote their time to innovation.

Investing in the resources to accelerate discovery. Investments in equipment, shared research resources and computational biology will generate new discoveries.

Knight Cancer Challenge Update
As of January 5th 2015, OHSU has received nearly $450 million towards the challenge. One anonymous donor, pledged $100 million to the effort in July of 2014.

Pretty impressive to raise those kinds of funds in less than a year. Nothing is guaranteed, but it seems that the Knight Cancer Challenge will be met (it feels crazy to assume $50 MILLION is a guarantee in a relatively short time frame), and $1 billion will be on its way to OHSU and cancer research.

If you'd like to participate in the challenge, go here for more information.

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About Me

Native Oregonian. Lover of all things Northwest -- from the beautiful scenery, to the Blazers, Timbers and Thorns, Nike, and local food spots.

CU Buff for life. Attended & graduated from the University of Colorado (Psychology degree). Go Buffs!

10 year professional basketball veteran -- now retired (2 seasons in Italy, Portugal, Poland, Bosnia, 2 seasons in Sweden, Germany, & lastly, 2 seasons in France). Basketball shaped me into the person I am today -- the things I learned on (& off) the court have been invaluable learning experiences and character builders.

Thinker and learner -- and striving to maximize life's potential!

Blogger about my unique experiences, travels and passions. Love hearing feedback -- positive and negative!
Occasionally a blogger, as an 'international perspective', for SLAM Magazine Online. If you want more basketball-specific topics, that's where to find it!